Babysitting Adventures
by Ari 347
Summary: When three paladins are changed to toddlers, it's up to the only capable paladin to take care of them...Hunk! Based on the art by FoxyJoy on Tumblr!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey! So, I know, a lot of people want me to update Raising Harry, but this idea has been swimming around my head for months, ever since I discovered FoxyJoy on Tumblr! She has the most adorable drawings of the paladins as babies and I'm completely obsessed! She has several drawings of Shiro and Keith interacting, and a bunch of babysitter Hunk!

Personally, I do see Hunk as the only one (other than possibly Lance) who knows how to deal with babies. So he'll probably be the main "babysitter" here, but I do intend to give Pidge, Allura, and Coran time in the spotlight!

You can find all of FoxyJoy's incredible art at foxyjoy-art dot Tumblr dot com . Check her out!

* * *

Hunk rubbed the back of his head as he stared at the tiny forms at his feet. "So, um, what do we do now?"

"I confess, I have never seen this happen," Allura responded, casting her own gaze in the same direction. "I do not know what to do about it."

"We'll have to take care of them, won't we?" Wrinkling her nose, Pidge took a step away from Hunk. "We can't leave just leave them there, right? I mean, I don't – "

Coran rubbed his chin. "No, we'll have to do something about them. We need all of the paladins to form Voltron."

All four of them sighed and looked down at the floor. Curled up were the last three paladins: Lance, Shiro, and Keith. With just one major difference.

They were toddlers.

 **VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

It all started when Lance decided to help pilot the castle. Or, well, more like bugging Allura as she piloted it through space. They came upon a ring of violet light and Lance had insisted Allura guide them through it. In an attempt to get him to stop talking, she did so.

At the same time, Pidge was testing out a new robot that decided to randomly shoot a laser at Lance, who then knocked into Allura, which knocked the castle off course. It touched the side of the ring, there was a flash of light, and then –

Well, then Lance, Keith, and Shiro were on the floor as toddlers.

Coran couldn't explain why the three of them in specific were affected. At first they'd thought that perhaps it was because Keith and Shiro had something Galra on them, Keith, well, himself, and Shiro, his arm. But that didn't explain Lance. Pidge kept insisting she had to do some testing on the toddlers.

"It doesn't matter why they're like this!" Hunk finally exclaimed. The squirmy toddlers froze at the loud tone, and Shiro promptly burst into tears. "No, no, please don't cry! I didn't mean to yell."

"They're so…little. I never imagined Shiro could look so fragile." Allura knelt down beside the trio. "Hello. I am Princess Allura. Would you like to see more of the castle?"

Lance's eyes lit up and he scrambled to his feet. His chubby face looked up at the princess as he raised his arms expectantly.

"He wants you to pick him up," Hunk explained, taking Shiro in his arms. The black paladin seemed content to just cuddle up against his chest.

"I know that. I have been around children before." Scooping him up in her arms, Allura ruffled Lance's hair, making him squirm. "I see the mini version of Lance does not like his hair mussed any more than the older one does."

"Am I supposed to get Keith?" Pidge bent down, eye level with the red paladin. Keith gave her an evil glare. "He looks like he's going to bite me or something. Do kids need rabies shots?"

Hunk, Coran and Allura turned to look at her. "Number five…have you ever been around children before?" Coran asked hesitantly.

"No. I'm the youngest." She tentatively held out a hand to Keith, who turned his head away. "I don't think he likes me. What do I do? Do I give him candy or something? Treats?"

Hunk groaned and rolled his eyes. "No, he's not a dog, he's a kid. Just talk nicely to him and he'll listen."

Pidge gave him a skeptical look. "I don't think that's going to work."

"Just try it." Seeing that the younger girl wasn't going to make a move, Hunk knelt down in front of Keith. "Hey buddy. Want to come along with me 'n Pidge and see the castle?"

Keith's violet eyes narrowed. He seemed to have a mini staring contest with Hunk before nodding slowly. "There. See?" Hunk said, straightening up. "Now he's happy. Er, kind of happy."

"Still looks feral to me." Pidge pointed to the toddler, who gave her an icy glare right back. "I've got my eye on you."

Shiro chose that moment to start sniffing, making Allura swoop down and pat the puff of stark white hair at the front of his head. "Shiro, are you alright? What is making you cry?"

"Da…" The toddler looked around, his lower lip wobbling. His eyes landed on Lance and he reached out a hand to him. "Hi."

Lance craned his neck, leaning all the way over to reach out to Shiro. Allura quickly caught him before he could fall headfirst to the floor. "Hi."

"Oh look, they've made friends!" Coran grabbed Shiro and held him up in the air. "It looks like you're going to have to be downgraded to Number…I would say three. What say you, Hunk?"

"Uh…why don't we just leave the number system alone?" Hunk quickly rescued the terrified-looking toddler-leader from the mustached man and cradled him gently. "I think you're scaring them a little. Shiro especially seems pretty jumpy."

"They're just being children! Why, when I was younger – "

"Coran, why don't we keep all children steady? Just until they get used to being small." Patting Shiro's head, Hunk noticed something strange. "Wait. Shiro has his metal arm, just in mini. I thought they just got smaller."

Pidge tiptoed over to him, still keeping a wary eye on Keith. "Yeah, I was wondering about that. I figured they were just de-aged until they were exactly like they were when they were toddlers, but now I'm wondering if something else happened. I mean, Shiro used to have all black hair. This kid still has white hair."

"Ah?" Shiro piped up, hearing his name. Hunk gently patted his head again to indicate that nothing was wrong. "Oh."

"We need to analyze them some more." Seeing that the yellow paladin was about to protest, Pidge held up a hand to stop him. "Not because I'm curious. But we really do need to see if whatever happened really did hurt them somehow."

"Oh. Yeah. That's probably a good idea."

Allura hefted Lance higher in her arms, having a difficult time controlling the wiggling toddler. "Perhaps we can find somewhere to put these three down? Well, two, I suppose, since Keith seems quite happy walking around by himself. I may not know very much about such young children, but I do know that they enjoy being occupied. And also, I believe I may drop Lance if I hold him for very much longer."

"Lance always moves around a lot. It used to drive me crazy in the academy," Pidge commented. The toddler in question twisted himself around to look at her. "Yeah, I'm talking about you, you little monster."

"Don't call them monsters, Pidge. They're babies." Holding out a hand to Keith, Hunk turned to Allura. "Do you think the lounge is baby-proof enough for them? They're not total babies, they probably know enough about safety, but I don't want to take a chance. Especially with Lance and Keith."

"I am not familiar with the term 'baby-proof', but I assume it means that the area is safe for the children?" At Hunk's nod, the princess continued, "Then yes, it should be alright for them. Coran, do we happen to have any of the baby food packets on the ship?"

Coran thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, Princess, I believe we do! You used to come on this ship with your parents often, I'm sure we have the packets somewhere!"

Pidge watched as he ran from the room and made a face. "Ew. Those things are like, what, over ten thousand years old?"

"Pidge, we've been eating the green goo on the ship since we got here. Didn't you ever think about that?"

"Oh God I'm going to be sick." Pidge covered her mouth and ran from the room as Allura laughed behind her.

"That stuff doesn't spoil though, right? I don't want to get these guys sick." Hunk nodded his head towards the toddlers. "I don't mind taking care of kids, but sick kids are a lot harder."

"Of course. All our food is designed to last for thousands of years." Tightening her grip on Lance, Allura turned to the door. "Let's go. I believe Lance is going to make another attempt to reach the floor."

Hunk sighed. "Behave, Lance."

"Ah?" Lance gave the two of them a fake innocent look, one that was quite reminiscent of his older self. Allura rolled her eyes and pressed her hand to his back.

"Let's just go. Come on, Keith." Taking the red paladin's hand, Hunk headed out of the room and down to the eating area. Once they entered the eating area, he set Shiro on the ground beside Keith. Allura did the same on the other side, allowing Lance to run to the other two toddlers. As he watched the three try to climb up onto the chair, something occurred to Hunk. "Hey, do you have anything for babies to sit in? Like a high chair or something?"

Allura thought for a moment before her face brightened. "No, but I have something Coran can fix up! Take Lance and I'll take care of things."

"Wait, no, Allura – " Hunk groaned. "Nope, she just left."

He looked down at the three toddlers crowded around his feet. "This is going to be interesting."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Hey all! Sorry it took so long for the new chapter. I'm in college, so chapters get sandwiched in between classes and homework. This chapter is courtesy of my professor who is incredibly boring and reads right off the slides.

Thank you so much to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed! If you left a comment and I didn't reply, I am so sorry! I've been trying to stay on top of things, but school and life keep getting in the way.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Ooh?" Lance reached out to Keith, who eyed the other boy's hand suspiciously before taking it. "Hi!"

"Hi…"

Pidge shook her head at the kids' antics. "They're not all that bright, are they. All they do is say hi to each other."

"Pidge, they're babies. They don't really know each other yet and it's not like we've given them any toys," Hunk commented. He looked down at Shiro, who had returned to his lap after Keith started acting up and scared him. "Go play with Lance and Keith, okay?"

"'Kay." Shiro rolled over and scooted down to the floor.

"Just 'cuz they're babies doesn't mean they can't be interesting. C'mere, Keith." Pidge held out her hands, but the baby red paladin just scowled and squeezed Lance's hand. "Come on, I didn't scare you! Don't be a ba – oh wait, you can't help that."

Hunk sighed and held out his arms to Shiro, who was looking around, confused. "Don't scare them and don't be mean to them. They're still little."

"They should be bigger, and I want to look them over to make sure they're okay. Who knows what could have happened during the change." Thinking for a moment, Pidge's face lit up and she turned back to the two little boys. "Hey, Lance? Want a treat?"

A smile spread across Lance's face and he quickly walked – waddled? – over to her, dragging an unhappy Keith beside him. "Ooh?"

"There we go. Simple bribery. Works every time." Pidge pulled a space lollipop out of her pocket and handed it to the toddler. Once he had it in his mouth, she pulled him into her lap, forcing him to release his grip on Keith.

"Pidge…I don't think that that's a good idea, Keith's going to – "

"NO! Nononononononononono!" The paladin in question latched onto Pidge's arm and started swinging on it, trying to get her to let go of Lance. "No!"

"Hunk, getimoff, he's going to bite me!" Pidge shouted.

Hunk took a moment to watch the chaos before setting Shiro on a chair and going to rescue Pidge. "I told you not to bother them, Pidge. Now look what you've done to yourself."

"How was I supposed to know that Keith was all protective over Lance?!" She glared at the red paladin, who stuck his tongue out. "You're awful."

"You don't say that to a toddler Pidge!" Hunk exclaimed. "They're babies! They listen to everything you say and think you're telling them the truth!"

"Owie?" Both teen paladins' heads swung around to see Lance gently patting a just-barely-not-crying Keith's back. "Owie?"

"See?" Without waiting for a response, Hunk knelt down beside Keith and picked him up, setting him on his lap only a few seconds later. "You're not a bad boy, Keith, you're a good boy. Pidge was being silly."

"I was not, I – "

"Shush, Pidge." Hunk gave her a flat glare before turning back to the sniffling toddler on his lap. A hand tugged on his pants, making him look down to see Shiro staring up at him. "Give me a minute, Shiro, I'm taking care of Keith right now."

Shiro continued tugging until Hunk finally set Keith down on the floor. The black paladin promptly wrapped his little hands around the red paladin and hugged him. Lance's face took on a curiously excited look before he jumped in and joined the hug.

"Aw, they're so cute!" Pidge whispered. Keith popped his head out of the group to give her a glare before going back to their hug. "Why does he hate me like that?"

"You just told him he's a bad boy, he – "

"We're back!" Coran raced into a room with a stack of oddly-shaped objects that he dropped onto the table. "The princess and I found these old lifting chairs from when she used to join King Alfor on his journeys."

"What do they do?" Hunk asked as Pidge picked one up and began inspecting it closely.

Allura entered the room at a statelier pace than Coran and paused by the table. "They attach to regular chair and will raise the child sitting in them to a better height to read the table. There is also a setting to create a tray for the child to eat off of."

"So like a high chair," Pidge replied. "That should be good for these monsters to eat off of."

"Exactly, that is what I was thinking." Allura looked down to find the three toddlers crowded around her leg, Lance's smiling face turned up to her. Once he saw that he was getting attention, he held up his arms to her. Shiro snuggled up against her leg, and Keith just folded his arms and glared, small tear tracks still tracing marks down his cheek. "What's with these three?"

"Pidge gave them a scare and apparently they've made themselves into the three musketeers. Hey, Coran, did you get the baby food?" Grabbing one of the flat, round, seat things, Hunk began helping Pidge set up the lifting chairs on the chairs already surrounding the table.

"Ah, yes, of course. Can't have the babies starve!" Coran knelt in front of the toddlers, who stared at him warily. Keith maneuvered himself so that he was in front of Lance and Shiro, much to Hunk and Allura's amusement. "Now, now, number four – er, should you be…no, I believe you're still number four, even in your foreshortened state – I'm not going to hurt any of you. Come along, I've brought food for you. Now it's not quite as good as Hunk's creations, but you're going to have to give him some time to learn how to cook for you."

Keith suspiciously eyed the hand Coran was holding out for several seconds before taking it. As soon as he began following the orange-haired man to the table, Lance and Shiro followed along as well.

"How did you do that?! They won't even look at me!" Pidge held up her hand as Hunk started to protest. "Keith wouldn't look at me even before I called him names, so don't say that that's why."

"One must know how to interact with children. How many children have you taken care of, number fi – two?"

Pidge awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. "Not that many. They kind of scare me."

"Children should not be something to fear!" Once he and the toddlers were by the table, Coran lifted each of the baby paladins into their chairs and strapped them in. "Children are cute little things. Aren't you, number four?"

Keith's eyebrows scrunched down for a moment before he hesitantly smiled at Coran. "Aw, you're so cute!" Hunk patted Keith's head, ruffling his hair. Unlike Lance, Keith just smiled wider. "See, Pidge? He's not an evil nutcase."

"I'm still not convinced." She glared at the red paladin. "I've got my eye on you."

"Eye you," Keith replied, just as seriously.

Allura laughed and swooped down on the toddler, wrapping her arms around him. "Keith, you are certainly more fun as a baby."

"Let's get them fed. I have a feeling they're going to start getting cranky soon." Hunk straightened up and looked around. "Coran, did you bring the food for the babies?"

"Indeed I did, number – I suppose you would be number one now, wouldn't you?" Reaching into his pocket, Coran pulled out three containers. "Here we go. Three containers of baby food. Delicious, nutritious, and perfect for children."

Upon closer inspection, the baby food seemed to be the same thing as the food goo. Hunk gave a mental shrug, grabbed a spoon from the table, and sat down in front of Shiro. "I'll take Shiro, since he seems the most jittery of all of them. Allura, you take Keith! Coran, you take Lance! Pidge, you sit still and don't scare the babies!

It's feeding time!"

* * *

 **A/N:** Next chapter: feeding time at the zoo!

I've always pictured Pidge as the "baby of the family" type of character - not great with sharing, children, etc. Also, I think a Pidge-little Keith rivalry is really funny and cute!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hey all! Nope, I'm not dead - just had major writer's block! But I've finally graduated with my Masters AND got a job. I'm waiting for my paperwork to finish, so I hope I have more time to update everything! I have a couple of new chapters to all my stories in the works, as well as a new story or two I'm working on.

Thank you for all of your reviews! I hope to be a lot better about answering them now that I have more time. Thank you again to everyone who followed and favorited the story!

Enjoy!

* * *

Coran gave baby Lance a wide grin, holding a spork to his mouth. "Open wide! Here comes the Altean vacation shuttle to the weblum!"

"Ooooh!" The blue paladin's eyes widened and his mouth opened wide. Seconds later, he was happily swallowing the baby food.

Hunk wasn't sure whether Lance actually understood what was going on, or if he was simply amused by Coran's antics. Either way, the kid was eating and that was all that really mattered. Shiro was being fairly well behaved, too, eating whatever Hunk gave him while looking around the room.

On the other side of the table, Allura was having a little more difficulty with Keith. The red paladin appeared skeptical about the adults surrounding him and kept attempting to slide out of his chair and escape. Pidge and Allura were taking turns catching him and putting him back in the chair.

All said, dinner took much longer than Hunk had ever expected and resulted in Coran running from the room when Lance accidentally squished food in his eyes. Pidge had been forced to take over feeding the blue paladin and somehow managed to do it without a fuss.

Once the three babies had had enough food (and the older people at the table had grabbed some scraps while the little ones were occupied), Hunk realized they had another problem. "Um, guys? These three are a little…messy."

"So?" Pidge brushed her hand over the back of Lance's head. He'd calmed down enough so that she could hold onto him without Hunk worrying that she'd drop him. The girl still didn't look completely comfortable with the child in her arms, but that didn't seem to matter to Lance. "They'll just take a…oh."

Allura looked at the two paladins, her gaze bouncing between them. "What do you mean, 'oh'?"

"We're going to have to give them a bath." At Pidge's words, Lance turned around and clapped his hands, a wide grin spreading across his tiny face. "Yeah, I kind of figured you'd like that. You're going to be a terror in the tub, aren't you?"

"Can they not bathe themselves?" Allura held Keith at arm's length, wrinkling her nose. "Keith certainly seems…rambunctious enough to do so."

"They're babies, Allura. They're too little to bathe themselves." Hunk rubbed Shiro's back, the toddler's head resting sleepily on his shoulder. "They'd drown."

"I see." Giving Keith a dirty look, the princess shook her head. "You are entirely too much trouble. At least Lance misbehaves because he is excited. You just enjoy being annoying."

Keith stuck his tongue out and tried to wriggle out of her arms. "And where do you think you are going?" Allura asked him, pulling him against her chest.

"Ants," was Keith's reply. He reached out his chubby arms towards the blue paladin. "Go Ants."

"Keef!" Lance called. He began squirming in Pidge's arms. "Keef-Keef!"

Hunk felt a smile spread across his face. "How about a bath together? You two can play in it for as long as you want – within reason."

"Baf! Yay!" Lance began clapping his hands, making Keith give him a strange look. "Keef! Baf!"

Now it was Keith's turn to wrinkle his nose. "No baf."

"Oh yes, baf – I mean, bath. You are covered in food goo and smell terrible." The princess hefted him over her shoulder. "Shall we bathe Shiro at the same time as well? It will be most expedient."

"Yeah, good idea. I don't want to have to do it more than once." Pidge tightened her hold on the blue paladin. "Hold still, Lance. If you fall out of my arms you can't take a bath with Keith."

Lance's face crumpled. "Keef…"

"No, no, you can take a bath with Keith, you just have to behave." Hunk shot Pidge a dirty look. "How about we try not making the babies cry?"

"Hey, I didn't know he would do that," Pidge quickly said. "How was I supposed to know he would burst into tears like that?"

"Because they're CHILDREN Pidge!" The yellow paladin shook his head. "Sometimes I really question you."

She groaned. "Kids are such a pain."

 **U_U_U_U_U_U_U**

Bathtime turned out to be both completely chaotic and lots of fun. Hunk reflected that considering that this was his first time taking care of so many babies (usually it was no more than one baby at a time), everything was going pretty well. They'd gone to one of the larger baths on the castle-ship and filled it halfway with water. It was shallow enough while also large enough for the baby paladins to use as a swimming pool to play in once they were washed.

Washing the three toddlers was a job and a half. Pidge and Allura adamantly refused to wash the boys, leaving Hunk in charge of washing them. Luckily the two girls agreed to shampoo them, otherwise Hunk thought it would have taken forever. Somehow they managed to not get any shampoo into the kids' eyes. Thank goodness for small miracles. The toddlers were active enough as it was (or, well, Keith and Lance were), he didn't think they'd have been able to handle three screaming toddlers. But now that the three were clean, Hunk had decided to let them play in the bathtub.

Lance was having the time of his life, ducking his head under the water and popping back up with a splash. Evidently baby Lance had the same skills as adult Lance and could hold his breath for nearly a full minute. This little fact nearly gave Pidge and Hunk a heart attack, although Allura seemed to think it was natural. It seemed that this was typical behavior of Altean children.

It had taken several minutes to convince Keith to get into the tub. In the end, Lance had called the other paladin's name and splashed some water on him. Now Keith was sitting against the wall, watching Lance's antics and occasionally ducking his head in the water. Allura had somewhat acclimated to the toddler and was gently pouring water over him to get him used to the bath.

Finally, Shiro was half-in, half-out of the tub, being held under the arms by Pidge. The black paladin refused to go into the water alone, bursting into tears every time Pidge let go of him. The only way they could get him into the water was to have the green paladin hold him up, and even then, he had to be held away from Lance to avoid getting drenched.

"Lance really is the blue paladin for a reason," Allura remarked, watching as the toddler swam over to Keith. "He's taken to this like…like…"

"Like a fish to water," Pidge finished. "Fish are creatures on Earth that live in our bodies of water."

"Yes, that would work." The princess gently ruffled Keith's dark hair. "Are you alright there, little one?"

Keith looked up at her. "All 'kay."

"Good boy." She propped her chin in her hands. "He has calmed down quite nicely, don't you think?"

"Yeah, Lance is having a good influence on him." Pidge groaned and shifted her position. "Shiro, you're getting heavy."

The toddler in question looked up at her with wide eyes. "Oooh?"

"How about we try letting go for a minute?" As soon as one hand left his side, Shiro's eyes began welling up. Pidge hastily replaced her hand. "Okay, okay, not a good idea. Baby does not like that."

"Want me to take over?" Hunk moved over and replaced Pidge's hands on Shiro's waist. "There. Much better."

Pidge scooted back, crossing her legs. "I hope Coran's okay. He looked really upset earlier when Lance mashed his food in his eyes."

"He was likely upset about the food in his mustache more than the food in his eyes. Coran has always had an…obsession with his mustache." Allura shook her head. "I do not pretend to understand him."

"Yeah, Coran's pretty much that weird uncle everyone has," Hunk commented. He looked down at the toddler in his arms. "Maybe we should take Shiro out? They're all bathed and clean, if he doesn't like the water we should let him sit on the side."

"Good idea." Pidge stood up and headed over to the side of the room, where they'd stashed towels and baby-sized pajamas.

Hunk pulled Shiro out of the water and took the towel from Pidge. Once the toddler was dry, he dressed him in the diaper and black cat-like pajamas Allura had found somewhere. "There. How's that?"

Shiro gave him a tentative grin and rested his head against Hunk's chest. Within a few minutes, the toddler was asleep.

"Poor child, he looks exhausted." Allura gently stroked the tuft of white hair. "I see that young Shiro is a sensitive child."

"Too bad the only person who knows what he was like is missing," Pidge grumbled. At the curious glances from the other two adults in the room, she rolled her eyes. "My brother. Matt and Shiro were friends when they were much younger."

Hunk pulled Shiro closer. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah. They were good friends. The nerd and the jock." She propped her chin in her hands and sighed. "I just hope I find him."

"You will, Pidge. Don't worry. I know we'll find him some day."


End file.
